Chapter 3

Disclaimer, I don't own The Raccoons.

Jason and Mathew Mink are my characters.

Enjoy.

"We were in for some harder times by the time Grade 2 started. That year a new family moved into Jason's old house. We made friends with their youngest son. His name was Mathew Mink. He was a year younger than us and a nice person. He liked the same things we did and I think he had a bit of a crush on Mellissa. He hung out with us a lot and Ralph and I even showed him the clubhouse and let him join after spending the night in the haunted house. He actually liked scary things and even reading horror stories. He told us a few when we were at the clubhouse."

"Mathew's family was nice too. He has 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters. They were a little hard on him, because he was the youngest, but his parents were good to him. We didn't go to his house very much and never really got to know his siblings that well. In fact I can't even remember their names. I do remember Mathew fighting with the oldest a fair amount, much like Bentley and Lisa sometimes do. Like them however they always made up."

"School was getting harder, but we progressed. We started learning to count by 2s and do multiplication. We also started learning how to write letters rather than print them. "

"Dennis and Linda were really enjoying Kindergarten. Dennis was so excited when we got home. He couldn't wait to tell mom all about his first day and how he loved pretending to be a farmer at playtime. I think that's when he began to show interest in it and it prompted mom and dad to buy him a farm set for his birthday. I made him a picture of a farm with a tractor and a barn. He kept it above his bed for years."

"Linda was not much like Mellissa. She's not into photography or sports. She and Mellissa didn't do much together. She never hung out with us very much either. She was always into fashion and drawing. Mellissa used to tell me how she barely came out of the tent when their family used to go on camping trips. Linda just doesn't like the outdoors. She didn't even bike ride very much. She is smart though and always got good grades. She especially liked reading and had quite a collection of story books. She would often make Roman play tea party with her and her dolls. Roman used to get laughed at by Mellissa and even Susan, but he would do anything for his family. He's a good father and a nice guy. He even built a photo lab in the basement and taught Mellissa how to develop her own photos. That sure came in handy when we founded the Standard." Giggles.

"Mellissa was getting better at photography all the time. She would never forget her camera whenever we went somewhere. She was sure proud of the new one she got after Jason stole and broke her old one. She got plenty of pictures of us with fish we caught and I got some of her and Ralph too. She worried I'd break her camera and I had a hard time getting her to smile, but I never broke it and would just have to act goofy to get her laughing. Too bad one of whoppers she caught slipped out of her hand and got away, when I had to once again get her to stop worrying and smile. Her parents only believed her about the fish she caught, because I did get the tail before it fell back in the water." Giggles. Her parents got her a tripod and a carry case for Christmas. That made her worry less when I took photos of her and Ralph."

"As I said before, we were in for harder times that year. Those hard times involved Mathew. The following spring, a couple of days after Easter Break, we were waiting in the classroom for Miss Primrose. She looked depressed and was quiet when she arrived. Mathew was absent that day. We figured he was probably sick. Miss Primrose told us some bad news. There was a fire at the Minks house the night before and Mathew had been taken to the hospital with severe burns. His family had barely made it out, but Mathew had tripped and his dad wasn't able to get him out fast enough to dodge some of the burning ceiling that landed on his back and head. He didn't have any broken bones but would have to stay in the hospital for a while. We thought nothing of it and figured he'd be fine. We were in for the shock of our lives a few days later. Miss Primrose came in a little late and was crying. She told us that the doctors had said Mathew's condition had worsened and he'd…died." Sniff. "Excuse me. We were all devastated and couldn't stop crying. They cancelled school for the rest of the day and I could barely tell my parents why we were home so early." Sniff. "The next day Miss Primrose had us write a paper about Mathew and what we remember about him. I almost couldn't write it, I was too upset. I did manage too eventually. We went to see his family after school and told them how sorry we were. They thanked us and we all attended his funeral. It was pretty hard to say goodbye. He was a good friend." Sigh. "I thought about that recently after spending a weekend at the dorm with Lisa. I dreamt about it and woke up. I just laid there crying and somehow it woke Lisa, who was sleeping beside me. She was surprised and had never seen cry so much before. I told her the whole story and that I dreamt about it. She told me she was so sorry. She then said what mom and dad told me when it happened." "As long as I never forget him, he's not really gone." "I kissed her and told thank you and that I felt better. She just smiled, kissed me back and went back to sleep. Like I said before, she's so kind and sweet. She knows how to cheer me up."

"The poor Minks. We barely saw them after that. They sure had a hard time moving on. Who could blame them? They later found out that the fire was caused by a loose wire that started sparking and ignited a box of rags in their basement. My parents were good enough to lend them some money for a motel room, while they waited for repairs. I think they had to wait for a month before moving back in. I didn't know what to say to them except to never forget Mathew. They thanked me and seemed to be better after that."

"The rest of us took fire safety a little more seriously after that. I thought Dad was being a little paranoid, but he only wanted to protect us like any good father."

I also based this chapter off an event in my own life that happened when I was in Grade 2. A friend of mine named Mathew Girvonski, who was a year younger had been bike riding and was coming home from the playground. He was riding down a hill next to the playground and lost control of his bike. When he ended up in the intersection, I can't remember the guy's name, but he couldn't stop in time and ran him over. He was taken to the hospital and our teacher: Mrs. Ferner told us the next day about the accident and that Mathew was very badly hurt. I figured since he was still alive he'd be okay. I was wrong. A few days after that Mrs. Ferner told us that there was nothing the doctors could do for him and he died. She had us spend the rest of the day trying to write what we remembered about him. I told my dad about it after school and he told me that he'd been bike riding the day before and saw a van in that same intersection with a bike under it. He told me he was sorry. I never met Mathew's family, but one of the managers at SuperStore, where I work, who's also a friend of mine, told me he knows that family and they still live in the same house. The parents are divorced apparently. He says probably because the wife is a little cuckoo. I said and probably because of the accident. I didn't go to the funeral, as it was during school hours, but I think I still have the pamphlet, or whatever it's called with his picture and birthday. I was also inspired by the story The Outsiders, where the character Johnney was saving some kids from a burning church and a beam fell on him, breaking his back. He later died in the hospital. I read that book in Grade 9 and also saw the movie that year. I have a youtube video called Moose Jaw SK Summer Tour 2014, if anyone wants to know where that accident happened. I marked it in the comments section. You can see the hockey rink and playground on the left just before I turn left. Whoever built the playground there is an idiot. That hill is dangerous. One of my friends and I rode our bikes down it once on our way home, lost control and fell off in the intersection. There was a car coming but luckily it was half a block away and had plenty of time to stop and let us get out of the way. Some of the other kids liked to ride down that hill and I told them you shouldn't do that. Do you want to get run over like Mathew.

Anyway I apologise for darkness in this chapter, but I wanted to show that things like this can happen. As always thanks for reading and more still to come.